


The "L" Word

by stardustmoth



Series: Mileven One-Shots [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Mike is a sappy lovesick mess of cliches but El loves every bit of it, One Shot, Romantic Fluff, Suggestive Themes, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, by which i mean suuuuper mild sexual implications that don't go very far, mileven is cute as heck okay i cant stop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 17:29:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13862481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustmoth/pseuds/stardustmoth
Summary: Another cliché-ass "boy climbs in through girl's bedroom window and sappy teen romance happens" scenario that I'm sure everybody's already done, but in my defense the whole show is built on 80s movie clichés anyway





	The "L" Word

Winter meant that it got dark sooner. The setting sunlight filtering through the window shades was turning a peachy orange already, even though the clock only read 4:45. Hopper had signaled that he would be back later than usual, although "late" seemed to have become the usual at this point. Eleven was not looking forward to being alone in the cabin in the dark for such a long time. At least it wasn't stormy. She had pulled the TV into her room again, so she could watch it from the safety of her bed and have some light and noise to fill the space. Right as she was settling in to switch on the evening soap operas, she heard a noise outside. Twigs snapping, fallen leaves crunching under footsteps, and a sort of clicking sound like turning gears, approaching her window. El's heart jumped when she recognized a soft "ouch" when a branch rustled particularly loudly. Mike.

It had been only a few days since they had seen each other at the Snow Ball, but she still lit up like a lightbulb at the sound of his voice as though it had been years. El eagerly scooted closer to the window, biting her lip and wanting to fling it open immediately. But she had to wait until he knocked in the secret pattern; she refused to break her promise to Hopper again. Mike's footsteps finally reached the window. She heard him take a deep breath and mutter something to himself, then the knocks: _One, two. One. One, two, three._

In the space of one second the locks clicked, the shades yanked up, and the window flew open with enough force to rattle the wall. Mike stumbled back at the sudden movement, his fist still raised. His bike, which was propped up against the side of the cabin, toppled over. But the startled look on his face was quickly replaced by a sheepish crooked smile and a warm glow in his eyes once they settled on the girl on the other side of the window. It was one of El's favorite faces that Mike made. Everything about his appearance just suddenly became so _soft_. And he seemed to be making that face at her a lot lately.

"Hey," he breathed.

El grinned. "Hey."

 

Sitting next to Mike on the floor of a cozy room, just the two of them, close enough for their knees to touch slightly, Mike talking to her about everything he can think of and El hanging on his every word... this was what she missed the most. It was a kind of comfort that she could never find a suitable replacement for in the past year. But now he's here and it's just them and nobody else, with no bad things out to get them this time, and they fell right back into each other's company as though they were never apart. Eleven felt all warm inside, like somebody had lit a little flame in her chest, and her cheeks were pulled up in a permanent smile. It was so good to hear his voice when he's happy again.

"...and Nancy's officially dating Jonathan now-- I mean, it was pretty obvious they were together, but now it's like they won't stop kissing in front of _everybody_ , it's super annoying. Well... for me at least, 'cause she's my sister and he's Will's big brother, y'know? Kinda weird. Will isn't too weirded out by it, though-- he and Dustin actually got into an argument yesterday because Dustin says Steve is still super in love with her and she should get back with him, but Will says Jonathan has never been so happy, like, ever, so she should stay with _him_ . It wasn't a real fight or anything-- it was really funny, actually. Kinda reminded me of that time when me and Will argued about whether Princess Leia should be with Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. I mean-- he was wrong, like _super_ wrong, 'cause it turns out she's actually Luke's sister. We laughed at him about that for months, Will's still probably super embarrassed..."

All the while during Mike's ramblings, he had one hand in his jacket pocket. Every now and then he'd pause and fidget with whatever he was holding there, and a blush would creep up into his freckled cheeks. Curiosity eventually got the better of El, and she asked him, "Mike, what's in your pocket?"

"--Huh?" he squeaked. The blush he was already sporting deepened. El blinked and paid closer attention; he only ever got flustered like this when he was about to do something that made her heartbeat flutter. His free hand reached up to rub the back of his neck and he nervously sputtered, "O-oh, just a... um... Well, I... Christmas is coming up, and... it's this big holiday where everybody gives a bunch of presents to each other and stuff, so..." Mike drew his hand out of his pocket, and with it came a small square box tied together with a ribbon. With more nervous fidgeting he held the box out to her, "So uhm... this is for you."

El had heard about Christmas. It was all the TV commercials would talk about this time of year. It sounded really fun, because they all had words like "family" and "happiness" everywhere. The idea of holidays was such a warm thought, but it made it so much warmer and brighter for it to be Mike giving those things to her. With wide, shining eyes she accepted the little gift and just stared at it. It was a gold-ish brown box, with worn corners and a tiny rip in the cardboard on one side, wrapped up in an awkwardly knotted green ribbon with frayed edges. It was messy and still warm from being held so firmly in Mike's hand. He must've had sweaty palms, because the ribbon felt a bit damp.

And it was the prettiest little box she had ever seen.

"Usually you're supposed to wait 'til it's actually Christmas, but you can go ahead and open it..." Mike's voice was all soft and squeaky from embarrassment.

El glanced up at him. Mike nodded. She tugged on the ribbon. It only knotted itself tighter, and she struggled with it, which caused Mike to make more embarrassed noises and try to help her pry it open. It took both of their effort to wrestle it out of its green bindings, but the box slipped out of their hands and clattered to the floor, the lid popping open and the contents spilling out. Mike hid his face in his hands, mortified that he messed this up.

El wasn't bothered at all, of course. With a fascinated sparkle in her eye, she picked up the object that had tumbled out of its wrappings. It was a loose, shiny silver chain latched to itself in a loop, with three other little silver things dangling from its links. The letter "E", the letter "L", and a heart shape with a pink rhinestone glued in the center. She held the chain up and stared in wonder as the light from her lamp caught the shiny metal surface.

"It's called a charm bracelet," Mike explained sheepishly, still ducking his head in embarrassment. "You, uh... wear it on your wrist."

"Like your watch?"

"Y-yeah, kinda. You can get more charms to put on it if you want, all the girls at school have like a hundred of them crammed on there. O-or, y'know, just keep it as it is. It doesn't matter. I just... I thought you'd like it..."

El stared admiringly down at the bracelet, a smile plastered on her face. Her name looked so much more beautiful when it's spelled in letters. "Pretty..." she murmured.

Mike perked up a bit. "Yeah? You think so?"

She beamed at him. "Really pretty."

He was making that glowing face again. "I can put it on for you, here..." Mike held her left hand up gently while he hooked the chain around her wrist, not too tight but tight enough to not slide right down to her elbow. The charms twinkled there, dangling right overtop of the ink digits branded into her skin. "011", the numbers that were always there, that identified what she was for so long, hidden behind sparkling silver letters that spelled "EL", her _name_ , the name Mike had given to her, the name that defined _who_ she was. It was perfect.

"Thank you," she murmured sincerely.

Mike blushed at the intensely emotional way she was looking at him. He wasn't entirely sure what to even say next, but his nervous mouth started running anyway, "It's nothing, really... Nancy has a bunch, and she was getting rid of them for a garage sale, so... The one the letters came from used to say 'Wheeler', but now it just says 'Whee'... the 'R' broke off I think..."

El's eyes kept drifting down to his lips while he nervously babbled on. She had stopped hearing the words he was saying; just focusing on the way his mouth moved as he spoke. It occurred to her suddenly: she wanted to kiss Mike. She really, _really_ wanted to kiss him.

So she did. She leaned right in and touched her lips to his, startling him, but he quickly relaxed and kissed her back. She pulled away after a second, but it wasn't enough, she wanted to kiss him more, because if his heart took flight the way hers did when they kissed then she wanted to make him soar. So she pressed another kiss to his lips, and another, more firmer, curling her hands around his neck like when they were dancing at the Snow Ball. Mike made a little nervous, questioning noise in the back of his throat when she crawled closer on her knees, but he soon melted right into her.

Every instinct was saying "closer, closer, more, _more_ ," because the longer it lasted the more intense the happy sensation alight in her chest and her stomach became. When Mike had kissed her before, it was always so brief, a sudden spark of bright energy. But this... this was different, this was long and steady and _burning_. She kept having to break away for a breath, and to take in the blissful expression on his face ('Just Kissed Senseless' was a new favorite Mike face, she decided), and then diving right back in. So odd that something as simple as touching lips like that could be so addicting.

She felt his hands tentatively holding her waist. Though his grip was unsure, it was as though he was slipping and falling and the only thing he knew to do was to hold onto her for dear life. Mike's jaw was slack, and she kept pushing forward, and suddenly it wasn't just lips touching but lips moving, and El's arms were pulling tighter around his neck and drawing their chests closer, _closer, more_...

Then all of a sudden Mike's every muscle tensed up and he scrambled away, sucking in a sharp breath. His knees curled to his chest defensively and his entire face flushed bright red. His eyes were wide and blinking back into focus, staring in bewilderment at her. El, in turn, also tensed and blinked at him. Why did he dart away so fast? Did she do something wrong?

"Mike...?" she whispered, her voice low and cracking like it hadn't been used in a while. "...Is everything okay?"

He seemed to not know what to do with his hands, moving them from the floor at his sides to around his knees, then rubbing at his jeans, and then awkwardly leaning an elbow on one knee and resting his chin against a tightly clenched fist. He tapped his right heel madly, which Mike only ever does with such vigor if he's really, _really_ nervous. He was forcing a tight grin. "Wha... What? Y-yeah, of course everything's okay, _pfft_ , what are you-- what do you mean? It's fine, it's totally fine."

El scrunched up her face in worry and complete confusion. They were just kissing, and it was amazing, and now suddenly he was freaking out and acting like he's hiding something... Was she not supposed to kiss him that long? Did it scare him? Did he not like it? Unsure what else to say, she blurted, "I'm sorry."

Mike panicked. He began shaking his head and waving his hands, "N-n-no, no no, don't be sorry, why are you sorry? I-- you didn't-- it's okay, you didn't do anything _wrong_ \--"

"Do you not want me to kiss you like that?" El asked, lowering her head in shame. She didn't mean to make him uncomfortable.

"No! I-- I do, it was... it was good, _really_ good! Like... _wow_. It was so good." Mike's expression was shifting from alarmed to flustered and shy, which did set her at ease. At least he wasn't completely derailed. He shifted his legs awkwardly again and squeaked, "Um... just... that was a lot... and um... I, uh... I got caught up, and... Let's stop for now, okay? I... it was great, really, I liked it! We can, uh... do it again, but... some other time, yeah?"

El slid back a couple inches to give him some room and nodded seriously, "Yes. We'll stop for now."

He gave her a reassuring but shy smile. She smiled back. There was a beat of silence in which they just sat there, looking at each other. El fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist, focusing back on how the warm feelings that always lingered after a kiss echoed and reverberated with every heartbeat. It would be nice to kiss him like that again sometime.

Mike then took a deep breath and stood up stiffly. "Uh... well it's late, I should... uhm--" He clambered out the window, nearly losing his footing, and waved around blindly for wherever his bike went. El sat up; he's leaving already? She was clearly disappointed, but didn't make any move to stop him.

"So uh... see you around, I guess... or... whenever. Um-- Night, El, love you-- ah! I mean--!" Mike sputtered again and froze, almost tripping over the bike pedals.

El's eyebrows shot up. That was the word. Everyone treated that word like it was special. Movies and soap operas were always so dramatic whenever somebody said that word. She never quite understood what it was about that word specifically that was so big and wonderful, but the way her heartbeat was dancing to hear Mike say it... maybe she did understand now. Mike was retreating, stumbling on the uneven forest floor. Before he could get too far El leaned out of the window and cried, " _Love you!_ "

He stopped. Then in a sudden, spontaneous rush, he dropped the bike, spun around, bounded back towards her window, reached both hands up to her face and crashed his lips onto hers.

A bright flash of joy surged through her and she grinned into the kiss. She wasn't completely sure, but it felt like her feet lifted off the floor for a moment. When he let go there was such a beautiful glow on his face and in his eyes; she wanted to save that image in her memory forever.

Mike beamed. His mouth twitched up into that cute crooked smile again. "Love you," he repeated, saying it for real this time, and really meaning it. As he backed away into the trees, retrieving his bicycle where he left it, he shouted it again excitedly, "I love you, El!"

She watched him go. Just before he was completely out of sight she shouted in reply, "I love you, Mike!"

 


End file.
